Taxpayers may very well be those on the hook for an enormous haul.
A towing firm says their profitable metropolis contracts and working license had been eradicated due to the “bribery and corruption” of a metropolis official and a towing-industry rival, in response to a newly filed $150 million lawsuit naming town.
Runway Towing claims that disgraced Division of Buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich took money and presents from rival tow baron Michael Mazzio — after which pressured one other company to place the tow firm out of enterprise, the go well with filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Courtroom says.
The payoffs had been a part of a bigger $150,000 bribery scheme for which Ulrich has already been indicted criminally. He allegedly accepted bribes from Mazzio, the proprietor of Mike’s Heavy Responsibility Towing, Inc, together with money and Mets season tickets, the indictment claimed.
“Eric Ulrich took bribes from Michael Mazzio in trade for serving to Mazzio’s tow truck firm . . . injure Runway Towing Corp., by making certain that it will be investigated and its license revoked by the DCWP, in order that Michael Mazzio may regain management of the New York Metropolis highways,” the go well with claims.
The lawsuit alleges that when Runway went to resume their towing license in 2021, the Division of Client and Employee Safety issued subpoenas for in depth monetary data.
The company found the hauler had overcharged 237 prospects a complete of lower than $6,000 — or roughly $25 every.
Sometimes, a minor discrepancy like that may be dealt with by a easy nice, Runway’s lawyer claims within the grievance.
However because of bribes given to Ulrich by Mazzio, the company denied their renewal.
Regardless of a Manhattan choose ruling in a problem that the choice was “too harsh or disproportionate to the offenses as to be ‘surprising’ to 1’s sense of equity,” the company appealed, making the denial ultimate.
Runway, which maintained a fleet of 40 vehicles and an extended record of contracts to offer towing for the NYPD and different public companies, finally “misplaced a ten million greenback a 12 months enterprise, and has ceased to function,” in response to the court docket submitting.
“An company’s willpower can’t be the product of corruption,” the go well with reads.
DCWP maintains that their choice was not a results of corruption, and that an unanimous enchantment court docket ruling upheld their choice for good purpose.
“DCWP is dedicated to holding companies, like Runway Towing and Mike’s Heavy-Responsibility Towing, accountable for preying on New Yorkers and we’ve taken motion to forestall each firms from violating the regulation,” stated spokesperson Michael Lanza.
Most of the claims in Runway’s lawsuit mirror these made by the Manhattan District Legal professional’s workplace of their 2023 indictment of Ulrich, Mazzio and 5 others who gave Ulrich cash, presents and different bribes to buy particular favor from the rising politician.
“Relatively than serve the general public, he used his roles to profit himself and his buddies,” Bragg stated on the time.
Earlier this month, Ulrich — who has pled not responsible to a complete of 16 felonies stemming from 5 indictments which stretch all the best way again to his days as a Queens council member — informed the court docket that he may now not afford his lawyer and requested a choose for a taxpayer funded advocate.
The gambler and former politician resigned in November 2022.
Attorneys for the 2 rival towing firms didn’t reply to a request for remark. Ulrich couldn’t be reached by time of publication and town’s regulation division declined to debate the brand new go well with.
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